"Hey, what do you want to drink?"
Quorra looks up from her book (an already slightly battered copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) at Sam, who's been cooking dinner for the two of them at the stove and is now standing at the fridge. "Oh," she says, marking her place with a finger and sitting up a bit straighter, "water's fine, thanks."
"Right." He pulls a bottle of water out of the fridge and tosses it to her. She catches it awkwardly in both hands and sets it on the coffee table in front of the couch where she's been curled up reading for the last couple hours. She then marks her place in the book and sets it on one of the end tables as Sam walks up with two plates of steaming stir-fry.
"This looks good." Quorra smiles at him as he puts the plates down on the coffee table.
He smiles back. "Thanks." He walks back to the refrigerator for a moment and returns with a can of soda. "So how you feelin' about tomorrow?"
Quorra, already in the middle of her first bite, pauses thoughtfully as Sam sits down beside her. She swallows. "You mean the press conference?"
Sam nods. "Yeah."
She doesn't speak for a while, but continues picking through the food, which is hot and delicious and spicy; Sam's a better cook than he's let on in the last month. The press conference is happening tomorrow at Encom, with Sam and Alan Bradley. They're going to announce the existence of the Grid, along with some other discoveries that Kevin Flynn made before he disappeared from this world.
They are not, Sam has told her, going to announce anything about her, or where she came from, or what she is, at least not yet.
"It's going to change a lot, isn't it?" she says, putting her fork down and opening her bottle of water.
"Yeah, it is," Sam says around a mouthful of food.
"Are you nervous?"
"A bit." He shrugs and drinks a swig of soda. "Alan's probably going to handle most of it. He's better at the whole public speaking thing than I am."
She grins at him briefly before returning her attention to the food. Without looking at him, she asks, "Do I need to be there?"
Sam shrugs again. "Nah, you don't have to be. If you want to come, you can. I think Lora's coming with Alan, in case there're any questions about the laser. But—yeah," he says, nodding and looking at her, "you can come if you want."
"Thank you," she says, smiling a little. "How do you think everyone will react?"
"I don't know." He puts down his fork and leans back, turning a little so he can look at Quorra properly. "Most of the tech blogs think we're announcing some kind of new software from Dad's notes or something, which is…" He shakes his head. "If they don't laugh us out of the room first, they're probably gonna be surprised as hell. And then… Alan thinks that everyone's going to want in."
"In the Grid?"
"Yeah. I mean, we gotta go back at some point, if there's anything left of the city after Dad—" He breaks off and looks away, and he doesn't say anything for several long seconds. Quorra reaches over and lightly takes his hand in hers.
He looks at their hands, then up at her. "Do you want to go back?"
The question surprises her, and she thinks before replying. "A little," she says, smiling again. "But I'd rather stay here."
